The present invention relates generally to payment of highway tolls, and more particularly to payment of highway tolls via a mobile telecommunications network.
Funding the construction and maintenance of highways via tolls collected from drivers is a common practice. Drivers pay tolls at toll booths erected along a highway, or at highway entrances and exits. Toll booths may also be erected at the entrances and exits of tunnels and bridges. The most established practice calls for a driver to stop and pay an attendant. Various automated schemes such as mechanized collection baskets for coins or tokens have evolved over the years. Recent systems use a radio frequency (RF) transceiver mounted on a car (mobile transceiver). As a car passes through a toll booth, an RF transceiver mounted in the toll booth (fixed transceiver) queries the mobile transceiver, which transmits a unique identification code linked to a payment account. The fixed transceiver receives the identification code and forwards it to a billing system, which then bills a payment account of the driver.
Although the RF transaction system is an improvement over previous schemes, it has several shortcomings, which include: (a) A highway authority incurs great expense to install infrastructure dedicated solely for toll collection. (b) Each vehicle that uses the RF transaction system is required to have a registered mobile transceiver. Problems may then arise if a driver rents a car or borrows a car that is not equipped with a registered mobile transceiver. (c) Not all RF transaction systems are compatible. A mobile transceiver which operates with an RF transaction system in one state does not necessarily operate with an RF transaction system in another state.
What is needed is a universal system for automated payment of highway tolls. A system that does not require dedicated infrastructure is advantageous.